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Kanotix - head and shoulders over the rest, but Puppy for fun, travel and old machines. For anyone new I would certainly suggest a live CD for a while, not a DEMO!, but save the config etc., learn how to boot from the xx.iso file and when confidence is up go for the install - it will carry the existing config over and then you wonder why you waited so long. Kanotix is great for this!

I go for Puppy Linux. No need to install - runs in ram - puts a 256k file on Windoze auto to save your settings and connects easy to broadband modem connected to nic.
Very very fast and can run on nearly every machine from old to latest.
Download only about 50k depending on version.
Suggest Puppy 1-0-5 to start with.

To none English speaking people I would recommend Ubuntu. Though the LIVE CD is slow and installation is not really easy. But as it comes in a lot of translations I really like it. I myself started with Slax, Zipslack and later VectorLinux, all slackware versions. But this was because I needed a 'light' version for an old laptop. Since DSL has matured and I probably would recommend that (though I don't like the D-word!) for a light system. Though slackware is more easy configurable! I also used Suse on my desktop system, which is cool but in my experience it can be a little hard to get all hardware working.

I started my Linux-Journey with Linspire a year ago ( formerly a M$ Win user).
I agree that LOS 5.0 is great, for a small cost, CNR $49 a year w/support.
CNR with out support is $39 a year.
I am also using Kubuntu 5.10, which is FREE and I recommend as a First Linux Distro also. The Software List is large and FREE.

Why on earth would you recommend anything but MEPIS on this list? Only MEPIS comes with java, flash, Acrobat reader...I'm sure your newbies will love having to install those & other things they expect from a command prompt.

I've been using SuSE since just before 6.0. (I think the first version I had was a 5.4 Eval.) I like it. I thinks its a great distro for new users. Everything they might want to install is on the disks. Even in the day of wide spread broadband some people don't have access and not having to rely on downloading things helps.

I'll also suggest Knoppix for those users that want to try without the commitment of a hard drive install.

I have been wanting to switch for a long time from windows and finally got around to it by using the free Xandros. Now I'm looking for a new OS because I'd like to get out there and try something more daring now that I've wet my feet.

I guess it all depends on what you consider a newbie.
A newbie to Linux, or a complete newbie to the computer world.
I chose this because of its simplicity to set up and all of its readily available features. I've been happier with its' simplicity, ease of use, and speed more than just about any other distro that I've used.
I really like Gentoo alot, but then again, I wouldn't recommend it for a newbie at all.
Most of the other distro's mentioned were nice, but all in all just didn't compare to VL 5.0 in the end. Nothing special really, just nice.

I needed a simple, safe linux distro that wouldn't come with significant downtime as I learn linux - when the wife want to do someting on the computer, she wants to do it now!!!

I haven't tried the free OCE version of Xandros that can be downloaded but it might be worth a look if you are distro shopping. I've also looked at Ubuntu and like it but wouldn't be that comfortable if I hadn't started with Xandros already.

If you are willing to pay some for the comfort of a nice user manual, corporate support and a pretty polished distro that works out of the box try Xandros. If you don't want to pay try Ubuntu.

Xandros. The OCE 3.0.2 works like a dream. The forum is active and provides solutions to problems quickly. Even the wireless setup works well and simply. I have tried other distors but this has worked for me and my kids.

I would reccommend Libranet for newbies because it is debian based and because everything works. There is good documentation, up & running support, & a very helpful forum. The installation is excellent, a huge assortment of apps & desktop GUI's to choose from. The system tool, adminmenu, is unique & makes configuring X a breeze. Upgrading kernels couldn't be much simpler, although LN3 comes with 2.6.11. Xorg is included. Very little to complain about.

I have tried all the above distro plus a few other. An eager-to-learn novice with sufficient working experience of Windows might not face many problems in using any of these distros for simple daily tasks, but a complete newbie will always find difficulty with most OSes for that matter. My own distro of choice is Kanotix and I just love it. To a newbie with some windows knowledge, I would recommend both Linspire and Xandros and leave the final choice to the user.

I like the above 3 distros for newbie friendliness, as well as power for the more established user. 'Texstar', Warren, and 'Kano' have put in alot of long hours on these projects and it shows. Thank you to all of you. And thank you to your awsome communities that have contributed so very much as well.

Of note to the newbie might be Kanotix use of Klik that allows one 'klik' installs of much of Debians repositories. Its not completely perfected but it couldn't get any easier for downloading new software.

I'm new to Linux and can say from personal experience Linspire was the easiest I found. Although I liked different things from different products, Linspire just worked and I understood what to do and the questions asked.

Mepis is 2nd of the ones you listed for newbies like me. I think you technical people would be okay with anything, but I'm not technical and there's a big difference and a lot of technical information and basic usage challenges to overcome with the others. (I didn't find this to be the case with Linspire)

I am relatively new and still learning Linux, and by now very rarely indeed need Windows for anything. I've tried many distributions. In my almost one year's experience:
- Xandros was the first I managed to install and use - and wow this made me happy! It made me decide for Linux, but I quickly moved on, wanting more resources - for free.
- Before that I had tried a few Knoppix children - looked nice but when I tried to install to HD they asked things I didn't know how to answer. Best one was Kalango 2.0 (a Brazilian distro), it did install nicely, but when I got version 3.0 and tried to update it messed all up and didn't work anymore.
- Then I installed MEPIS... It's last year's version, didn't update it to last version yet, but I LOVE IT. It was easy to install, fun to use, very flexible - easy to add new packages and to update existing ones. It's the main distro I use.
- My tactics to experiment without being afraid of losing anything is to have a separate Home partition with all my data (I use that even with Windows, recommend to everybody), AND to have another distro in another separate partition. If I mess with something, I boot the other one and find out from it how to correct my system. This is making me more adept at administering my own system - sooooo different from Windows, where you never know where and how to mend basic things.
- In this other partition I installed Ubuntu - very easy too, very beautiful, for some tasks I prefer it. I have KDE on the Mepis distro, and Gnome on Ubuntu, as this helps me to get to know the differences and the bells and whistles of each one. Choice of packages is more limited in Ubuntu (as I'm a newbie I didn't try to add repositories that might crash with packages native to the distro). When Hoary version substituted Warty I updated all of it FROM WITHIN UBUNTU according to the very clear and simple instructions on their forums and everything worked perfectly, I was amazed! No need to download another large iso file or to ask for new CDs! Just like a regular package update. So nice!
- All things considered, I think it all depends on the person being labelled "the newbie". Is she(he) curious and eager to know new things, or shy with computers and just want to write a few documents and access the web and e-mail? Is he(she) an English speaking person? (Ubuntu installs beautifully in Portuguese and many other languages) The beauty of Linux is that you have choice, many choices - and maybe there are many different kinds of newbies. I, for myself, would never want a distro that tries to mimic Windows - I always hated the logic of Microsoft programs, the confused menus, the way they try to impose things on you. My almost forgotten install of Windows XP has only alternative, free and open source programs carefully chosen in it. And then I discovered I could choose LINUX!

Like you, XP is my primary os, though I'm beginning to switch over to Linux. I would still need to use windows, as there a lot of apps that I need. However, over the past 3 months, I've tried the following live cds:
1) knoppix 4.0.2. very good though slow and bloated. It can automatically create a swap file if the puter has under 128meg of ram.
2) BeatriX.
3) DSL
4) Feather Linux
5) Slax (a great mini distro)
6) Puppy (another great mini distro)
7) Myah (a good distro)
8) Ubuntu (pretty good)
I haven't tried Mepis as yet. I will though, as a lot of linux users recomment Mepis.

Linspire is well known to be focused on ease of use (file format compatibility, plug-and-play hardware, how-to tutorials, consistent UI, super-easy to install software and updates with the CNR Service, etc.). All good "check-off" items for desktop Linux newbies.